Senior USAF KC-46 and F-35 officials swap positions

Two senior US Air Force officials leading the service's largest programmes are swapping positions, mystifying analysts and retired flag-officers.

Maj Gen Christopher Bogdan, the current programme executive officer for the Boeing KC-46, is to become the deputy director of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme, the US Department of Defense (DoD) announced on 11 May.

On the same day, the DoD announced that the current deputy director of the JSF programme, Maj Gen John Thompson, will take over Bogdan's role as KC-46 programme executive officer.

Retired USAF flag-officers and analysts have no insight as to why the two officials are switching positions.

Dan Goure, an analyst at the Lexington Institute, Arlington, Virginia, puts it bluntly.

"I can't think of a reason," he says.

The USAF says the move is simply part of a routine reshuffling of general officer roles.